Hosiery



(Model) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

E. E; SOATGHARD. HOSIERY.

N0. 317,861-. Patented May 12,1885.

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PATENT HOSIERY.

UPEGIFILQATEQN forming part of Letters Patent No. 317,861, dated ltiay 12, 1885. Application filed January 2, 1885. (Model) .To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ELMER E. SOATOHARD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Phila' delphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hosiery; and I do hereby declare the following to be a sufficiently full, clear, and exact description thereof to enable others skilled in the art to make and use the said invention.

This invention relates to the feet of hosiery, and has for its object the greater flexibility and elasticity of the sole and side portions of the feet of stockings, in combination with lateral elasticity of the top and heel and ankle portions of the stocking, and also a facility of making stockings of aniinproved appearance, consequent upon a different arrangement of the colored yarns not heretofore practiced, and which improved design is the subject of a distinct and separate application for Letters Patent as a design.

The nature of this invention consists in a stocking-foot wherein the part forming the ankle, heel, and upper front part of the foot are ribbed lengthwise in the usual manner, and therefore having the greatest elasticity laterally,and the portion forming the sole, the toe, and the sides adjoining the sole are ribbed transversely, and are therefore of greatest elasticity longitudinally. The sole and side portion from the direction of the ribs therein and the direction of the yarn forming the loops thereof can have stripes of different color in the direction of the length thereof, thus enabling me to make the entire upper portion of the stocking of one solid color, and the sole and toe of another color or white, and to produce stockings of much greater durability in the parts exposed to the most rapid wear.

I will now proceed to particularly describe the mode of making the said invention, referring in so doing to the drawings annexed and the letters of reference marked thereon.

Figure 1 shows the stocking foot and ankle complete; Fig. 2, the heel and upper portion without the sole, and Fig. 3 the sole-piece detached.

The same letters of reference apply to the same parts in the several figures.

A is the ankle portion of a stocking containing this improvement; B, the heel portion; O, the front portion; D, the toe portion, and E the sole portion.

F FF F indicate the line of the seam where the piece forming the sole and toe portions D and E are united to the heel and frontportions B and O.

The portions A, B, and O are knit in the usual manner by a rib-fran1e, with the ribs G G in the direction of the length, as indicated in the figure, and preferably, but not necessarily, of a solid or single color. As thus woven, looped, or knitted the fabric has its greatest elasticity crosswise to the ribs.

The sole and toe portions D and E are knitted, woven, or looped upon a rib-frame, with the ribs H H made crosswise, as shown in the figure, and has its greatest elasticity in the direction of the length of the sole. ln weaving the sole portion D and E, the sides or edges J J of the piece are preferably made of the same solid color as the part B and O, and the center of the piece I) and E is preferably made of another color or of whiteyarmthe looping of the fabric where the colors join presenting a narrow line of each color. The piece D and E is sewed to the piece B and 0, upon the line of. seam indicated by the letters F F F F, by the usual loop-stitching hosiery-machine, alter which the stocking is drawn over a block of the proper form and pressed between heated plates, which gives it its finished shape.

In use such stockings stretch lengthwise in the sole and sides of the foot more freely than sidewise, while the top of the foot stretches more readily sidewise. Such stockings therefore in wear are less apt to wrinkle than others having all of the ribbing of the foot parallel, and are therefore more pleasant and durable in wear, and the facility of introducing colors in the side of the sole-piece similar to the top of the foot, and of having a 2. An improved stocking, consisting of a difierentcolored sole, which is impracticable sole, side, and toe piece ribbed transversely. when the sole is ribbed lengthwise, enable me and combined with a top piece and heel ribbed to make hosiery of a more pleasing appearlengthwise, substantially as shown. 5 ance.

Having described my invention and the ELMER E. SGATOHARD. mode of making the same, what I claim is 1. An improved stocking having the sole Witnesses: ribbed crosswise and the top of the foot length- J. DANIEL EBY,

1o wise, substantially as set forth and described. LINN WHEELER. 

